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Golden Gloves returns to the ring after tragic Boxing Weekend death

Knoxville’s Golden Gloves franchise returned to the ring this weekend for the 85th annual East Tennessee Golden Gloves Tournament, marking the first time that the organization has hosted a tournament since the death of University of Tennessee student Tanner Wray during the annual Ace Miller Memorial

Knoxville’s Golden Gloves franchise returned to the ring this weekend for the 85th annual East Tennessee Golden Gloves Tournament, marking the first time that the organization has hosted a tournament since the death of University of Tennessee student Tanner Wray during the annual Ace Miller Memorial Boxing Weekend at the Knoxville Expo Center on February 23.

The tournament, in which boxers from across the region compete for a chance to move up to the Southern Golden Gloves Tournament and on to the national competition, was held at the Ace Miller Golden Gloves Arena in Knoxville on Friday and Saturday. Some 35 boxers competed in the tournament, traveling from gyms in Chattanooga, Monroe County and Morristown.

Tracy Miller Davis, whose father Jerry “Ace” Miller is the namesake for Knoxville’s Golden Gloves gym and the annual Boxing Weekend tournament, has been a part of the family’s boxing history since she was 12 years old. She explained that Wray’s death in February was nothing short of traumatic for the entire Golden Gloves family, as she put it, and that the decision to host this weekend’s tournament a short three weeks after such an unsettling event was not easy to make.

Alex Galvan prepares for the first round of his bout in the 55 lb. weight class during the 85th annual East Tennessee Golden Gloves Tournament at the Ace Miller Golden Gloves Arena on Friday, March 16. Andrew Capps

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“It’ll be good for all of us to kind of get back into it, but I really hesitated,” Davis said. “I was kind of dreadful, but we have to have this tournament in order for these kids to advance to the Southern and to Nationals; it’s just part of what we are as the Knoxville franchise of Golden Gloves.”

Part of that hesitance came from Davis’ obligation to the coaches and kids that participate in the gym’s free program, which she says gives the kids a place to feel important and empowered while also helping them build a family-like relationship with their coaches and fellow athletes. Bringing them back into the ring and easing the fears that Wray’s death might have put into their minds about boxing was vital to Davis, who said that she struggled with finding a way to do so.

“My first, main concern was Tanner’s family. My second concern was my officials and people who were at ringside and then our own kids here. How do I address that to our kids so that they’re not afraid, so that they’re not scared of a preexisting heart condition?” Davis said.

“We do everything possible to protect these kids, with doctors and physicals and medical treatment and everything we can, but obviously with Tanner it was just something that couldn’t be foreseen.”

The annual memorial tournament was cancelled on the Saturday following Wray's death, and Davis explained that plans were still up in the air about next year's tournament. Still, she was hopeful that the tournament might continue and that it might become a way to honor Wray. For Davis and much of the Golden Gloves family, Wray’s death was more than a frightening accident; it was the loss of a friend who had trained for months to help raise money for the Golden Gloves gym and had worked his way into the family.

“These kids come in here and train for months, these college kids do. We know when their socials are, we know who their dates are, we know when their next test is. We keep up with them, and we form relationships with those kids, so to lose one of them is very hard,” Davis said. “I’m not a grief counselor, but I have lost both of my parents, and, in doing that, the best thing that’s helped me through it all was to love on each other, know that you have support and talk about it.”